Zuckerberg chats with AI clone as human creator looks on in year’s weirdest demo – TechCrunch
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AI has already given us some weird demos. And friends, it’s only going to get weirder from here. As the tech world runs screaming head first into the uncanny valley, lines will blur and everything will continue getting stranger.
Take, for example, Wednesday’s Meta Connect keynote. There was a constant drum beat of Meta AI and Llama demos during the event, but one in particular stood out for its strangeness.
Mark Zuckerberg invited creator Don Allen Stevenson III to join him onstage. The Meta CEO proceeded to pick up a phone and carry on a conversation with an AI-generated version of Stevenson as the genuine article stood between the exec and an image of himself on the big screen.
The demo showcased AI Studio, a platform for designing custom chatbots. The program, which rolled out to all U.S. creators in July, started with text only. Wednesday’s event, meanwhile, showcased how creators can essentially create virtual versions of themselves.
“If you’re getting a ton of DMs, and you’re missing the time to respond, Creator AI for me has been answering a lot of my frequently asked questions,” Stevenson said of how he’s used the platform. “It saves time. I have time to go outside, take a break.”
Meta ran the demo at the same presentation that gave us chatbots voiced by Awkwafina, Dame Judi Dench, John Cena, Keegan-Michael Key, and Kristen Bell. It only gets weirder from here.
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Brian Heater was the Hardware Editor at TechCrunch until early 2025. He has worked for a number of leading tech publications, including Engadget, PCMag, Laptop, and Tech Times, where he served as the Managing Editor. His writing has appeared in Spin, Wired, Playboy, Entertainment Weekly, The Onion, Boing Boing, Publishers Weekly, The Daily Beast and various other publications. He hosts the weekly Boing Boing interview podcast RiYL, has appeared as a regular NPR contributor and shares his Queens apartment with a rabbit named Juniper.
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